A few weeks ago when advance copies of Fermented were sent out, Stacy from Paleo Parents had a brilliant idea. In order to really get a feel for all that Fermented had to offer and to test out a bunch of recipes at once, she invited some friends over to her house and they made a bunch of things from the book. First of all, I was so honored and thrilled that someone would do this and second of all, it was a fabulous idea!

So, I decided to return the favor. I invited a few of my pork-loving friends over this past Saturday and we cooked up a feast courtesy of Stacy’s (and her husband Matt) latest masterpiece, Beyond Bacon.

Before I tell you the details, I have to say that I think I will be doing book reviews in this way from now on. Not only was it a great way to try a bunch of recipes at once, it was just a really good time spent with some friends.

So, here are the pork party players:

Sarah – She’s a badass mamma to Oliver Danger (Yes, her son’s middle name is Danger. Fantastic.), real food lover, gardener, animal lover, and owner of an actual house pig, Speck. When I invited her over to cook up pork in various ways I asked if she felt any weirdness about it considering she has a house pig. She said no and that Speck has no room to complain as he’s eaten bits of ham. Ha.

Liz – Hardcore CrossFitter, the one who got me to start fermenting by giving me a SCOBY, always has a unique take on food. Cooking genius and all-around awesome friend. And she looks sexy with a block of lard in hand.

Kevin – AKA The Scientist ™. Liz’s boyfriend, chemist, and meat lover. When he and Liz started dating their third date was sausage making. Not a euphemism and not a joke. I’m glad that my friend is dating a man of this caliber. When a gentleman shares your love and respect for meat products, you keep him around, no? The Scientist was in charge of meat cutting and did an expert job of pocketing out the pork chops Sarah brought. Brilliant.

Supporting cast:

DJ’s Butcher Block – This is a new-to-me place in Pittsburgh. I found out about it through Liz (of course) and I have become a regular customer. I can’t always buy half of a cow or an entire pig straight from the farm – I don’t have anywhere to store it! Instead I’ve now started supporting this little independent butcher who sources his meat from local farms. Seriously folks, this is the type of place you want to buy your meat from. There is a visible ban saw. They cut ALL steaks and chops to order. DJ and his girlfriend own the place and they’re the people you’ll see behind the counter. They know everything about their product. There is a collection of meat cleavers hanging on the wall. The place isn’t glamorous, but it’s clean, inexpensive, and the quality is second to none. This is where we bought all the meat and lard for the pork party.

Dude – My man napped throughout the pork preparation portion of the day, but woke up in time to eat.

So, what did we make? A few days before the party, we put our heads together and came up with a comprehensive menu:

Sarah made Apple & Bacon Stuffed Pork Chops (page 168) and Zucchini Pasta with Avocado, Roasted Tomato, & Bacon (page 234).
I made Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits (page 222) and Savory Bacon Jam (page 244).
Liz made The Best Brownies (page 284)
Kevin improvised a pan sauce for the chops with the bacon drippings we had left over – and that was a lot. Plus, as mentioned above, he was our meat cutter and got things off of high shelves.

The book! It’s brilliant, plain and simple. It’s beautiful too. I had a difficult time settling on what to make because the depth and breadth of what is in this book is just overwhelming – in a good way! We could EASILY have four or five pork parties, cook from Beyond Bacon for every single one of them, and never get bored. And we might just do that. The non-recipe part of the book is flat out invaluable. I mean, the recipes are positively fab, but the additional information beyond the food preparation is reason alone to have this book in your library. I thought I knew about pork, but it turns out that wasn’t the case. I didn’t even know what I didn’t know.

The party went off without a hitch. I have a nice-sized kitchen, but it’s not enormous. I was concerned the four of us wouldn’t have enough room to work together AND make six different things. But I worried for nothing. We had a terrific time, enough room, and nobody had to fight for oven or stove real estate. We didn’t even plan it, but everything was finished cooking at just the right time. By the time the pork chops were pulled out of the oven, everything else was ready, on the table, and ready to eat. Dude had even woken up by this point and has his appetite ready.

And the food? Come on. You know what I’m going to say here. This was the best meal I’ve had in a long, long, long time.

Apple and Bacon Stuffed Pork Chops – These were perfection. I mean, how can you go wrong stuffing a pork chop with bacon? You can’t. But it was more than just pork-on-pork action. The flavors and textures were perfectly balanced – sweet/savory, meaty/crunchy. The apples were perfect for this dish.

Zucchini Pasta with Avocado, Roasted Tomato & Bacon – This was probably meant to be a stand-alone entree, but we used it as a side dish. It was so deliciously creamy and wonderful! Plus, the bacon wasn’t overwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I love bacon as much as the next person, but there is so much more to food than bacon. And we had a pretty bacon-heavy menu going at this party. Sarah brought grape tomatoes and basil from her garden to use in this dish and that just pushed it over the top.

Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits – What can I say about these beauties? They are absolutely fantastic. The flavor is very subtle and lends itself nicely to sweet and savory dishes. After the pork party, I made another batch of these gems and quadrupled the recipe. Dude and I have been eating them with every meal – with eggs and bacon (make a breakfast sandwich with them!), with honey (Oooh! Sweet and savory!), and Dude even ate one with his pork mole at last night’s dinner. And do I even have to tell you how well these paired with the bacon jam? I practically fainted.

Savory Bacon Jam – Yeah. You can’t go wrong with this. Seriously. If you don’t even care about pork and if you aren’t interested in an entire book’s worth of awesome recipes, you’ll want to get Beyond Bacon simply for this recipe. What’s the cover price? Who cares! Spend the money JUST FOR THIS BACON JAM RECIPE. This is an order. You’ll thank me for this bit of advice. It was so easy to make and it yielded incredible – and I mean INCREDIBLE WITH ALL CAPS – results. I sent Liz, Kevin, and Sarah home with a wee bit of what was left over from the batch. Pirates. I can’t believe those guys would rob me of the rest of the bacon jam. Don’t worry. I’ve since made another batch. And I may or may not be eating it all myself by the spoonful.

The Best Brownies – Truth be told, I’m always skeptical of grain-free desserts. Most of them aren’t good. They are well intentioned, but the texture is always off and the flavor is usually kind of blah. However!!!!! Trust me when I tell you these brownies are the exception! Light, moist, and not a whiff of that weird paleo pastry texture! These are the real deal, friends. I think using lard makes all the difference. Believe me when I say that I am persnickety when it comes to paleo/grain-free desserts. These brownies lived up to their name!

So, what’s the moral of this story? First, do yourself a favor and get a copy of Beyond Bacon. Actually, how about entering here for a chance to win a copy? Leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite pork preparation is. And surf on over to like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram for additional entries. Do it. You have until Thursday, August 29, 2013 at noon EDT.

The second moral is this: Everything is always better with your friends around. Thanks to Liz, Kevin, and Sarah for the good times and for taking some photos!

106 Comments

OMFGBACONJAM!!!!!!!! YAY this looks like sooooo much fun!! : ) I wish I could have crashed this party… especially since I’ve always wanted to try bacon jam… and of course bc i miss your faces!!

Honestly, I know it’s simple, but I have rediscovered my love of “bacon bits” in my salads. My roommate brought some killer bacon home as soon as I moved here and I’ve been hooked!! My “bacon bits” paired with hard boiled eggs, shredded chicken, and lots of veggies make for epic salads.

Can’t wait for my first paycheck– sooooo many good cookbooks lately!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite pork recipe? I love the honey cinnamon pork loin recipe for the crock pot that a friend gave me. I definitely would like to learn more about what I can do with pork. I would love to add this cookbook to my newly developed cookbook collection.

Looks like a great party! I need to get myself more Paleo friends so I can do awesome stuff like this. My favorite way to eat pork is succulent pork belly in a miso butternut squash sauce. SO RICH. Also, no need to follow both of your accounts because I already do! Congrats on your Fermented success :]

It used to be jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese wrapped in bacon, but we don’t do cream cheese anymore, so my new favorite is the cumin crusted pork loin from Practical Paleo. I would love to get some new pork recipes though

Your review of Beyond Bacon totally sold me. Thanks mostly to you I have been avoiding white carbs, my first step to better eating. Bought this book on Kindle and guess what! There were six books listed on the page that came up and your Fermented was there, last on the page but still front and center for all to see. Very impressive. Thank you for the inspiration.

I’m so excited for the Sweet Potato Biscuits and Bacon Jam! I need to get both Beyond Bacon AND *your* fabulous book. Been staying busy in the garden and keeping the cards in my wallet…lol. My favorite pork preparation, at the moment, and so far, is bacon wrapped chocolate chip-stuffed dates. I was raised vegetarian (SO wrong! lol). The smell of bacon at 4H camp, when I was 10 or 11, did me in….after that I never trusted the idea of vegetarianism…

Oh, and I do (of course) follow you on Facebook…I’m not totally on the Instagram boat yet. This post was very inspiring, and the party sounds like a great time. I had a group of friends in college that I used to do pretty fabulous (not too far from Paleo, even though that word was unbeknownst to me at the time) dinner parties with, pretty regularly. It really is about one of my favorite ways to socialize – sharing excellent food with Good People. If someone’s garden or fresh catch is involved, all the better. The Good Life.

I totally forgot about Baby Back ribs!!!! Probably since I had never had them until I met my husband – just 3 years ago….that is A LOT of rib-less years! Definitely one of my favorite pork dishes now, although I don’t prepare them as often as I might like….also, definitely a difficult one to have AIP-friendly while dining out. I’ve definitely been meaning to start mastering them.

I’m a bit of a pork (really meat in general) purist and like it to taste like what it actually is and not sauces or rubs…that being said, I do absolute love a pork tenderloin rubbed with some bacon fat and sprinkled with a little bit of salt and pepper and roasted in the oven…OMG!!

My favorite pork prep is to take a pork tenderloin, season it up then pan sear it in all sides in a cast iron skillet, then dump in some brussel sprouts and mushrooms cut in half and tossed in salt & pepper with olive oil, put some pats of butter on top of everything then throw the whole pan in the oven and roast until the tenderloin is done. The sprouts and mushrooms soak up all the yumminess form the tenderloin and it’s my favorite “one-dish” meal!

I’ve discovered the only way to get my lovely fiance to try new vegetables is to cook them with bacon or in a little lard. So now Kale- Bacon saute is his favorite food (mine too) and one that he actually loves so much that learned how to cook it himself.
I would LOVE the new beyond bacon book to try out some fabulous new recipes and see what other clean foods we can add to our arsenal

I love kale and bacon together! My husband tells me he could eat it every day and my kids scarf it down without complaint, even my picky 2yr old. I would love to delve deeper into things like pork belly! Another staple in our house is pork loin. I love the idea of the Beyond Bacon party.
I’ve got both your book and Beyond Bacon on my “wish list” on Amazon! I’ve got to find $ in the budget to get all the fabulous books that have been coming out lately!

I’d have to say that bacon is my favorite way to eat it since that’s really the only way I eat it. To be honest, pork is intimidating to me for some reason so I haven’t cooked with it much even though I want to start. So getting BEYOND BACON would be a huge help for that!

I love me some pork carnitas. I make them in the slow cooker with a bunch of citrus juice and spicy rub, and then when it’s falling apart I shred it and throw it under the broiler to crisp it up. Eat it for days with cabbage and avocado and tomatillo salsa. I am dying for that Beyond Bacon book. Seriously. Thanks!

We love loin chops with a slather of dijon, coated in “crumbs” (flax seed, grated parm, herbs and S&P) and baked in the oven. Second fav is that same slather of dijon then grilled… mmmm… that and bacon. We’ve declare bacon to be a food group all its own.